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Pedicle Screw Fixation Study in Immature Porcine Spines to Improve Pullout Resistance during Animal Testing

Le Cann, Sophie LU ; Cachon, Thibaut ; Viguier, Eric ; Miladi, Lotfi ; Odent, Thierry ; Rossi, Jean-Marie and Chabrand, Patrick (2015) In PLoS ONE
Abstract
The porcine model is frequently used during development and validation of new spinal devices, because of its likeness to the human spine. These spinal devices are frequently composed of pedicle screws with a reputation for stable fixation but which can suffer pullouts during preclinical implantation on young animals, leading to high morbidity. With a view to identifying the best choices to optimize pedicle screw fixation in the porcine model, this study evaluates ex vivo the impact of weight (age) of the animal, the level of the vertebrae (lumbar or thoracic) and the type of screw anchorage (mono- or bi-cortical) on pedicle screw pullouts. Among the 80 pig vertebrae (90- and 140-day-old) tested in this study, the average screw pullout... (More)
The porcine model is frequently used during development and validation of new spinal devices, because of its likeness to the human spine. These spinal devices are frequently composed of pedicle screws with a reputation for stable fixation but which can suffer pullouts during preclinical implantation on young animals, leading to high morbidity. With a view to identifying the best choices to optimize pedicle screw fixation in the porcine model, this study evaluates ex vivo the impact of weight (age) of the animal, the level of the vertebrae (lumbar or thoracic) and the type of screw anchorage (mono- or bi-cortical) on pedicle screw pullouts. Among the 80 pig vertebrae (90- and 140-day-old) tested in this study, the average screw pullout forces ranged between 419.9N and 1341.2N. In addition, statistical differences were found between test groups, pointing out the influence of the three parameters stated above. We found that the the more caudally the screws are positioned (lumbar level), the greater their pullout resistance is, moreover, screw stability increases with the age, and finally, the screws implanted with a mono-cortical anchorage sustained lower pullout forces than those implanted with a bi-cortical anchorage. We conclude that the best anchorage can be obtained with older animals, using a lumbar fixation and long screws traversing the vertebra and inducing bi-cortical anchorage. In very young animals, pedicle screw fixations need to be bi-cortical and more numerous to prevent pullout. (Less)
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:84949034942
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0127463
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
68af767f-47e0-4b71-96f1-5a66aca2b39a
date added to LUP
2017-02-15 10:50:42
date last changed
2022-02-14 17:05:52
@article{68af767f-47e0-4b71-96f1-5a66aca2b39a,
  abstract     = {{The porcine model is frequently used during development and validation of new spinal devices, because of its likeness to the human spine. These spinal devices are frequently composed of pedicle screws with a reputation for stable fixation but which can suffer pullouts during preclinical implantation on young animals, leading to high morbidity. With a view to identifying the best choices to optimize pedicle screw fixation in the porcine model, this study evaluates ex vivo the impact of weight (age) of the animal, the level of the vertebrae (lumbar or thoracic) and the type of screw anchorage (mono- or bi-cortical) on pedicle screw pullouts. Among the 80 pig vertebrae (90- and 140-day-old) tested in this study, the average screw pullout forces ranged between 419.9N and 1341.2N. In addition, statistical differences were found between test groups, pointing out the influence of the three parameters stated above. We found that the the more caudally the screws are positioned (lumbar level), the greater their pullout resistance is, moreover, screw stability increases with the age, and finally, the screws implanted with a mono-cortical anchorage sustained lower pullout forces than those implanted with a bi-cortical anchorage. We conclude that the best anchorage can be obtained with older animals, using a lumbar fixation and long screws traversing the vertebra and inducing bi-cortical anchorage. In very young animals, pedicle screw fixations need to be bi-cortical and more numerous to prevent pullout.}},
  author       = {{Le Cann, Sophie and Cachon, Thibaut and Viguier, Eric and Miladi, Lotfi and Odent, Thierry and Rossi, Jean-Marie and Chabrand, Patrick}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Pedicle Screw Fixation Study in Immature Porcine Spines to Improve Pullout Resistance during Animal Testing}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127463}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0127463}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}